Green MP Caroline Lucas cleared over fracking protests

UK's only Green Party MP has been found not guilty of obstructing a public highway and a public order offence during high-profile anti-fracking protests. Caroline Lucas was arrested outside an exploratory oil drilling site in West Sussex last August.

Live updates

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas MP has been found not guilty at Brighton Magistrates' Court of obstructing a public highway and a public order offence during an anti-fracking protest at Balcombe, West Sussex.

Ms Lucas said: "I'm haunted by the idea that my children and my children's children will turn round to me and say, 'What did you do about this overwhelming threat?'"

Her co-defendants were also cleared of both charges against them. They were Josef Dobraszczyk, 22, from Bristol; Ruth Jarman, 50, from Hook, Hampshire; Sheila Menon, 42, from north east London; and Ruth Potts, 39, from Totnes, Devon.

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas was arrested outside energy company Cuadrilla's exploratory oil drilling site in Balcombe, West Sussex, last August 19.

She was among a group of protesters who had linked arms outside the site, which had become a national focal point for anti-fracking protests.

During the trial at alongside four co-defendants, Lucas, 53, said she "wanted to express solidarity" by protesting peacefully. She was found not guilty of the two charges she faced - wilful obstruction of a public highway and breaching an order under Section 14 of the Public Order Act.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has been found not guilty at Brighton Magistrates' Court of obstructing a public highway and a public order offence during an anti-fracking protest at Balcombe, West Sussex.